April 2010 Fiction

Scroll down to see the latest items on our shelves. Book are separated into different subject headings including: general fiction, mystery, suspense and historical fiction. Hopefully, you can find something that you will like!

General Fiction

The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Allen

In her latest enchanting novel, New York Times bestselling author Sarah Addison Allen invites you to a quirky little Southern town with more magic than a full Carolina moon. Here two very different women discover how to find their place in the world-no matter how out of place they feel. Emily Benedict came to Mullaby, North Carolina, hoping to solve at least some of the riddles surrounding her mother’s life. Such as, why did Dulcie Shelby leave her hometown so suddenly? And why did she vow never to return? But the moment Emily enters the house where her mother grew up and meets the grandfather she never knew-a reclusive, real-life gentle giant-she realizes that mysteries aren’t solved in Mullaby, they’re a way of life: Here are rooms where the wallpaper changes to suit your mood. Unexplained lights skip across the yard at midnight. And a neighbor bakes hope in the form of cakes. Everyone in Mullaby adores Julia Winterson’s cakes-which is a good thing, because Julia can’t seem to stop baking them. She offers them to satisfy the town’s sweet tooth but also in the hope of rekindling the love she fears might be lost forever. Flour, eggs, milk, and sugar . . . Baking is the only language the proud but vulnerable Julia has to communicate what is truly in her heart. But Is it enough to call back to her those she’s hurt in the past? Can a hummingbird cake really bring back a lost love? Is there really a ghost dancing in Emily’s backyard? The answers are never what you expect. But in this town of lovable misfits, the unexpected fits right in.

Another Life Altogether by Elaine Beale

Recalling such novels as “White Oleander” and “Anywhere But Here, Another Life Altogether” is a keenly observed coming-of-age story about the effects of a mother’s mental illness on her young daughter.

Perfect Peace by Daniel Black

The heartbreaking portrait of a large, rural southern family’s attempt to grapple with their mother’s desperate decision to make her newborn son into the daughter she will never have. When the seventh child of the Peace family, named Perfect, turns eight, her mother Emma Jean tells her bewildered daughter, “You was born a boy. I made you a girl. But that ain’t what you was supposed to be. So, from now on, you gonna be a boy. It’ll be a little strange at first, but you’ll get used to it, and this’ll be over after while.” From this point forward, his life becomes a bizarre kaleidoscope of events. Meanwhile, the Peace family is forced to question everything they thought they knew about gender, sexuality, unconditional love, and fulfillment.

The Postmistress by Sara Blake

Those who carry the truth sometimes bear a terrible weight… It is 1940. France has fallen. Bombs are dropping on London. And President Roosevelt is promising he won’t send our boys to fight in “foreign wars.” But American radio gal Frankie Bard, the first woman to report from the Blitz in London, wants nothing more than to bring the war home. Frankie’s radio dispatches crackle across the Atlantic ocean, imploring listeners to pay attention–as the Nazis bomb London nightly, and Jewish refugees stream across Europe. Frankie is convinced that if she can just get the right story, it will wake Americans to action and they will join the fight. Meanwhile, in Franklin, Massachusetts, a small town on Cape Cod, Iris James hears Frankie’s broadcasts and knows that it is only a matter of time before the war arrives on Franklin’s shores. In charge of the town’s mail, Iris believes that her job is to deliver and keep people’s secrets, passing along the news that letters carry. And one secret she keeps are her feelings for Harry Vale, the town mechanic, who inspects the ocean daily, searching in vain for German U-boats he is certain will come. Two single people in midlife, Iris and Harry long ago gave up hope of ever being in love, yet they find themselves unexpectedly drawn toward each other. Listening to Frankie as well are Will and Emma Fitch, the town’s doctor and his new wife, both trying to escape a fragile childhood and forge a brighter future. When Will follows Frankie’s siren call into the war, Emma’s worst fears are realized. Promising to return in six months, Will goes to London to offer his help, and the lives of the three women entwine. Alternating between an America still cocooned in its inability to grasp the danger at hand and a Europe being torn apart by war, The Postmistress gives us two women who find themselves unable to deliver the news, and a third woman desperately waiting for news yet afraid to hear it. Sarah Blake’s The Postmistress shows how we bear the fact that war goes on around us while ordinary lives continue. Filled with stunning parallels to today, it is a remarkable novel.

The Hidden Flame by Davis Bunn and Janette Oke

In first-century Judea, Abigail together with her fellow followers of the Way face a gathering storm of persecution they never could have foreseen but find a glimmer of hope through their faith and courage to survive.

Losing Charlotte by Heather Clay

Sisters Charlotte and Knox Bolling grew up intimately connected; yet their bond frayed as one of them sought to rebel. Their fates are forever intertwined when Charlotte dies giving birth to twin boys, and Knox steps into her sister’s vanished life.

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

WE DON’T WANT TO TELL YOU TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS BOOK. It is a truly special story and we don’t want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this: It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific. The story starts there, but the book doesn’t. And it’s what happens afterward that is most important. Once you have read it, you’ll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don’t tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.

Whiter Than Snow by Sandra Dallas

From The New York Times bestselling author of Prayers for Sale comes the moving and powerful story of a small town after a devastating avalanche, and the life changing effects it has on the people who live there Whiter Than Snow opens in 1920, on a spring afternoon in Swandyke, a small town near Colorado’s Tenmile Range. Just moments after four o’clock, a large split of snow separates from Jubilee Mountain high above the tiny hamlet and hurtles down the rocky slope, enveloping everything in its path including nine young children who are walking home from school. But only four children survive. Whiter Than Snow takes you into the lives of each of these families: There’s Lucy and Dolly Patch–two sisters, long estranged by a shocking betrayal. Joe Cobb, Swandyke’s only black resident, whose love for his daughter Jane forces him to flee Alabama. There’s Grace Foote, who hides secrets and scandal that belies her genteel facade. And Minder Evans, a civil war veteran who considers his cowardice his greatest sin. Finally, there’s Essie Snowball, born Esther Schnable to conservative Jewish parents, but who now works as a prostitute and hides her child’s parentage from all the world. Ultimately, each story serves as an allegory to the greater theme of the novel by echoing that fate, chance, and perhaps even divine providence, are all woven into the fabric of everyday life. And it’s through each character’s defining moment in his or her past that the reader understands how each child has become its parent’s purpose for living. In the end, it’s a novel of forgiveness, redemption, survival, faith and family.

The Barbary Pirates by William Dietrich

As dazzling and action packed as the best novels of James Rollins, George MacDonald Fraser, and Steve Berry, The Barbary Pirates will have readers cheering for William Dietrich and his dashing hero, Ethan Gage!Swashbuckling American explorer and ladies’ man Ethan Gage has seen his fair share of danger, having braved the sands of Egypt, the perils of the Atlantic Ocean, and the harsh wilderness of early America. Once more, he finds himself in a desperate race-this time with the Barbary Pirates, a powerful band of Muslim outlaws from North Africa. Also after Ethan is his nemesis-and former lover-Aurora Somerset, member of a dangerous sect called the Egyptian Rite. The prize is the Mirror of Archimedes, an ancient superweapon that, according to legend, once burned a Roman fleet with its power. In 1802, this death ray could tip the balance of power in the Mediterranean, and Ethan must stop the pirates from using it against the American, English, and French fleets.From the salons and brothels of the Palais Royal of Paris, where the quest for information about his lost love Astiza involves real-life scientists and engineers-including inventor Robert Fulton-Ethan must travel at Napoleon’s behest to the canals of Venice, the caves of Santorini, the dungeons of Tripoli, and finally to treachery on the high seas in the Mediterranean.Can Ethan rescue Astiza without betraying the cause of his own United States? Can he save the two-year-old son he only recently discovered he had without allowing the Egyptian Rite to finally dominate the world? And when the sun rises on the Mirror of Archimedes, will everything Ethan cares about be set afire?Delivering the fast-paced adventure, uncanny wit, and page-turning historical excitement that readers have come to expect from the masterful William Dietrich, The Barbary Pirates is Ethan Gage at his winningest, most hilarious, and most death defying.

The Language of Secrets by Dianne Dixon

It is the intimate details of family life–a mother’s lullaby for her son, a father’s tragic error in judgment–that make “The Language of Secrets” so exceptional. It’s the story of an unspeakable loss born of human frailty and an ultimate redemption born of human courage.

Postcards from a Dead Girl by Kirk Farber

A touching, almost cinematic debut novel featuring the eccentric, slightly disturbed, and unique character Sid, who finds himself–among various other darkly comic scenarios–obsessed by the mysterious European postcards that arrive in the mail from his ex.

A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks

From the author of the bestselling “Birdsong” comes a powerful novel that melds the moral heft of Dickens with the satirical spirit of Tom Wolfe. With daring skill and savage humor, “A Week in December” explores the complex patterns of modern urban life.

An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon

As battle-scarred Jamie Fraser and his twentieth-century time-travelling wife Claire Randall flee from North Carolina to the high seas during the American Revolution, they encounter privateers and ocean battles. Meanwhile in the relative safety of the 20th century Brianna (Claire and Jamie’s daughter) and Roger MacKenzie, Brianna’s husband, search for clues not only to Claire’s fate–but to their own fate in the Highlands.

Something Red by Jennifer Gilmore

When Jennifer Gilmore’s first novel,Golden Country,was published,The New York Times Book Reviewcalled it “an ingeniously plotted family yarn” and praised her as an author who “enlivens the myth of the American Dream.” Gilmore’s particular gift for distilling history into a hugely satisfying, multigenerational family story is taken to new levels in her second novel.In Washington, D.C., life inside the Goldstein home is as tumultuous as the shifting landscape of the times. It is 1979, and Benjamin is heading off to college and sixteen-year-old Vanessa is in the throes of a rocky adolescence. Sharon, a caterer for the Washington elite, ventures into a cultlike organization. And Dennis, whose government job often takes him to Moscow, tries to live up to his father’s legacy as a union organizer and community leader.The rise of communism and the execution of the Rosenbergs is history. The Cold War is waning, the soldiers who fought in Vietnam have all come home, and Carter is president. The age of protest has come and gone and yet each of the Goldsteins is forced to confront the changes the new decade will bring and explore what it really means to be a radical.Something Red is at once a poignant story of husbands and wives, parents and children, activists and spies, and a masterfully built novel that unfurls with suspense and humor.

Secret Daughter by Shilpi Gowda

Moving between two worlds and two families, one struggling to survive in the fetid slums of Mumbai, the other grappling to forge a cohesive family despite their diverging cultural identities, this powerful debut novel marks the arrival of a fresh talent.

The Irresistible Henry House by Lisa Grunwald

In mid-20th-century America, a home economics program at a prominent university uses real babies to teach mothering skills. For a young man raised in these unlikely circumstances, finding real love and learning to trust will prove to be the work of a lifetime.

The Line by Olga Grushin

Grushin’s stunning debut drew praise that placed her in the top rank of young literary voices. Now she returns with that rarity: a second novel even more dazzling than her first. The line: the universal symbol of scarcity and bureau­cracy that exists wherever petty officials are let loose to abuse their powers. The line begins to form on the whispered rumor that a famous exiled composer is returning to Moscow to conduct his last symphony. Tickets will be limited. Nameless faces join the line, jostling for preferred position. But as time passes and the seasons change and the ticket kiosk remains shuttered, these anonymous souls take on individual shape. Unlikely friendships are forged, long-buried memories spring to life, and a year-long wait is rewarded with unexpected acts of kindness that ease the bleakness of harshly lived lives. A disparate gaggle of strangers evolves into a community of friends united in their desire to experience music they have never been allowed to hear. The Lineis a transformative novel that speaks to the endurance of the human spirit even as it explores the ways in which we love-and what we do for love.

As It Was Written by Sujatha Hampton

“As It Was Written” tells of the epic journey of an Indian-American family which unfolds when men and women, Hindus and Catholics, histories and curses, collide.

The Lunatic, the Lover and the Poet by Myrlin Hermes

In this witty and wise reimagining of Hamlet–laced with quotes, references, bed tricks, and a bisexual love-triangle inspired by Shakespeare’s own sonnets–this novel will upend everything readers think they know about the prince.

Dog Boy by Eva Hornung

This taut and emotionally convincing narrative explores universal themes of the human condition: the importance of home, what it means to belong to a family, the consequences of exclusion, and what animal nature can teach humans about survival.

Coventry by Helen Humphreys

Helen Humphreys draws on history to delve into the lives torn asunder by the German attack of November 14, 1940. Harriet, a widow from World War I, is atop Coventry Cathedral, part of the nightly watch, when first the factories and then the church itself are set on fire. In the ensuing chaos she bonds with a young man, very much like the husband she lost, who relies on her to find the way back to his home where he left his mother. On their journey through a hell of burning shops and collapsed homes, Harriet awakens to emotions she had long put aside. At home, the youth’s mother awaits his arrival and rethinks the life that has brought her to this city and her life raising her son alone. Ultimately, together these two women must face a world as immeasurably changed as their own selves.

A Second Helping by Beverly Jenkins

With the millions she received after divorcing her faithless tycoon husband, Bernadine Brown saved the historic town of Henry Adams, Kansas, from financial ruin and found loving homes for five needy children. Now there are other “projects” crying out for rescue.If ever a town institution needed rescuing, it’s the beloved Dog and Cow diner. Once it was Henry Adams’s social center-or gossip central!-now it’s in danger of becoming duct-tape central. But there are other distractions pulling Bernadine from the task at hand: a plethora of romantic entanglements, including her own with a disturbingly attractive Malachi July; a bitter young boy newly arrived in town with his widowed father; and a fugitive on the run with a six-hundred-pound pet pig that’s wanted for murder (the pig, that is). And when Bernadine’s philandering, troublemaking ex-husband rolls into town looking for a second chance, life in Henry Adams gets very interesting indeed.

Almost Home by Pam Jenoff

“A young woman intelligence officer struggles to confront her haunting past while tackling a dangerous assignment of global proportions with origins tracing back to World War II.”

The Inn At Angel Island by Thomas Kinkade

Lost by Alice Lichtenstein

On a cold January morning, Susan, a professor of biology, leaves her husband alone for a few minutes and returns to find him gone. Suffering from dementia, no longer able to dress or feed or wash himself without help, Christopher has wandered alone into a frigid landscape with no sense of home or direction. Lost.Over the course of one weekend, as a massive search for Christopher takes place, Susan’s life intersects with those of two strangers: Jeff, her liaison with the police, a social worker and search-and-rescue expert shaken by his young wife’s betrayal, and Corey, a twelve-year-old boy, rendered mute by a family tragedy, who has become one of Jeff’s cases. While the temperature drops and teams scour the countryside with greater and greater urgency, Susan and Jeff venture into the fraught territory of their pasts — to impulsive choices and events that may have led to their present circumstances and to the painful question of whether they are to blame for their spouses’ actions. Corey, too, is troubled by memories, and a secret that could affect them all. When the desperate search concludes, what it uncovers will transform Susan, Jeff,and Corey and irrevocably bind them together.From the unexpected convergence of these three lives emerges an arresting portrait of the shifting terrain of marriage and the uneasy burden of love and regret. With her stark, beautiful prose and extraordinary insight into the human conscience and heart, Alice Lichtenstein has crafted a fiercely eloquent and emotionally suspenseful novel about the lengths we will go to take care of someone and the unfathomable ways that even the simplest of choices can reverberate throughout a life.

The Ask by Sam Lipsyte

Milo Burke, a development officer at a third-tier university, has “not been developing”: after a run-in with a well-connected undergrad, he finds himself among the burgeoning class of the newly unemployed. Grasping after odd jobs to support his wife and child, Milo is offered one last chance by his former employer: he must reel in a potential donor—a major “ask”—who, mysteriously, has requested Milo’s involvement. But it turns out that the ask is Milo’s sinister college classmate Purdy Stuart. And the “give” won’t come cheap. Probing many themes— or, perhaps, anxieties—including work, war, sex, class, child rearing, romantic comedies, Benjamin Franklin, cooking shows on death row, and the eroticization of chicken wire,The Ask is a burst of genius by a young American master who has already demonstrated that the truly provocative and important fictions are often the funniest ones.

What We Are by Peter Mayle

A blazing and authentic new literary voice, Malae–a finalist for the NYPL Young Lions Literary Award–has written a bold debut novel. “What We Are” tells a raw and powerful, bullet-fast story that looks at contemporary America through the eyes of one disillusioned son.

O, Juliet by Robin Maxwell

The acclaimed author of “The Wild Irish, The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn,” and “Virgin: Prelude to the Throne” offers a new take on the mesmerizing young woman and poet who inspired Shakespeare’s most famous female character.

Pearl of China by Anchee Min

From the bestselling author of “Red Azalea” and “Empress Orchid” comes the powerful story of the friendship of a lifetime, based on the life of Pearl S. Buck.

Eternal on the Water by Joseph Monninger

This poignant novel from Monninger chronicles a timeless love between two people, and the devastating disease that forces them to make drastic decisions.

The Wives of Henry Oades by Johanna Moran

When Henry Oades accepts an accountancy post in New Zealand, his wife, Margaret, and their children follow him to exotic Wellington. But while Henry is an adventurer, Margaret is not. Their new home is rougher and more rustic than they expected-and a single night of tragedy shatters the family when the native Maori stage an uprising, kidnapping Margaret and her children. For months, Henry scours the surrounding wilderness, until all hope is lost and his wife and children are presumed dead. Grief-stricken, he books passage to California. There he marries Nancy Foreland, a young widow with a new baby, and it seems theyrsquo;ve both found happiness in the midst of their mourning-until Henryrsquo;s first wife and children show up, alive and having finally escaped captivity. Narrated primarily by the two wives, and based on a real-life legal case,The Wives of Henry Oadesis the riveting story of what happens when Henry, Margaret, and Nancy face persecution for bigamy. Exploring the intricacies of marriage, the construction of family, the changing world of the late 1800s, and the strength of two remarkable women, Johanna Moran turns this unusual family’s story into an unforgettable page-turning drama.

The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers by Thomas Mullen

From the acclaimed author of “The Last Town on Earth” comes an imaginative and mythical saga about two vigilante bank robber brothers on the run from the law during the Great Depression.

Fragile Beasts by Tawni O’Dell

When their hard-drinking, but loving, father dies in a car accident, teenage brothers Kyle and Klint Hayes face a bleak prospect: leaving their Pennsylvania hometown for an uncertain life in Arizona with the mother who ran out on them years ago. But in a strange twist of fate, their townrsquo;s matriarch, an eccentric, wealthy old woman whose family once owned the county coal mines, hears the boysrsquo; story. Candace Jack doesnrsquo;t have an ounce of maternal instinct, yet for reasons she does not even understand herself, she is compelled to offer them a home. Suddenly, the two boys go from living in a small, run-down house on a gravel road to a stately mansion filled with sumptuous furnishings and beautiful artwork-artwork thatrsquo;s predominantly centered, oddly, on bullfighting. And then therersquo;s Miss Jackrsquo;s real-life bull: Ventisco-a regal, hulking, jet-black beast who roams the land she owns with fiery impudence. Kyle adjusts more easily to the transition. A budding artist, he finds a kindred spirit in Miss Jack. But local baseball hero Klint refuses to warm up to his new benefactress and instead throws himself into his game with a fierceness that troubles his little brother. Klint is not just grieving his fatherrsquo;s death; hersquo;s carrying a terrible secret that he has never revealed to anyone. Unbeknownst to the world, Candace Jack has a secret too-a tragic, passionate past in Spain that the boysrsquo; presence threatens to reveal as she finds herself caring more for them than she ever believed possible. From the muted, bruised hills of Pennsylvania coal country to the colorful, flamboyant bull rings of southern Spain, Tawni O’Dell takes us on a riveting journey not only between two completely different lands, but also between seemingly incompatible souls, casting us under her narrative spell in which characters and places are rendered with fragile tenderness.

The Long Way Home by Robin Pilcher

“The Long Way Home is Robin Pilcher at his best. I devoured every word of this masterful storyteller.”—Debbie Macomber, #1New York Timesbestselling authorIn the vein of Maeve Binchy, Rosamunde Pilcher, and Nicholas Sparks,New York Timesbestselling author Robin Pilcher returns with his most enchanting novel yet, filled with captivating twists and turns of heart. When Claire Barclay receives news that her beloved stepfather has had a stroke, she’s more than a little shaken. Leo is her last real relative, and his own children rarely check up on the old man. Claire and her husband, Art, leave New York and fly back to Scotland to care for him during the summer. Their visit makes clear that Leo is no longer capable of living on his own, but he is determined to stay in his beloved old house. Art comes up with the idea of turning the place into a conference center, thinking they could purchase the place from Leo and build him a cottage on the property. But the situation is much more complicated than it seems. Claire’s old flame, Jonas Fairwether, has become Leo’s caretaker and trusted confidant. Though Claire distrusts Jonas’s motives, Leo chooses to take his advice to put the house up for public auction rather than sell directly to Art and Claire. Claire is immediately suspicious, and even more so when she finds out that another application has been submitted to develop the property. Does Jonas Fairwether want to knock down the Leo’s house and build a development? It looks like whoever is behind the plan is being driven by financial gain, but there may be an even stronger motive. The Long Way Homewill keep readers on the edge of their seats. This is a masterful novel from a master storyteller.

The Two Lives of Miss Charlotte Merryweather by Alexandra Potter

At age 31, American Charlotte Merryweather has spent 10 years in London pursuing personal and professional perfection. Yet her success only heightens the shock of a visit from the past, in the latest work from the bestselling author of “Me and Mr. Darcy.”

Model Home by Eric Puchner

The debut of an award-winning writer, “Model Home” is a bitterly funny, deeply moving novel about a family reckoning with failure, guilt, and love.

Life as I Know It by Karen Robards

In this debut novel full of heart, a single, carefree woman wakes up from an accident to discover she’s suddenly a married mother of four. As Jessica tries to come to terms with her new situation, she embraces a family in need and helps them heal.

Miss Julia Renews Her Vows by Ann Ross

It’s “I Do!” and “I Didn’t!” in Ann B Ross’s new Miss Julia adventure Sometimes even Miss Julia just wants to go to bed and hide under the covers. Her husband, Sam, wants them to attend mar­riage enrichment classes. Could their marriage be in a poor state? Even worse, the psychologist leading the sessions is Dr. Fred Fowler-a man Miss Julia could go forever without seeing again and one she’d certainly rather not introduce to Sam. But she can’t stay in bed for long, even if she wants to. Someone has knocked Francie Pitts in the head and put her in the hospital. Francie didn’t see her attacker, but she sure smelled her. She rec­ognized Etta Mae Wiggins’s perfume, Shania Twain by Stetson. It’s up to Miss Julia to clear the air. As if playing detective wasn’t enough, Miss Julia still needs to show Sam that there’s life left in their marital batteries-even if it means his are going to need some recharging. Perhaps a bit of Shania Twain might just solve all her problems. Readers flock to Ann B. Ross and her popular southern heroine. Miss Julia Renews Her Vowsis filled with the wit, sass, and quirky charm her readers have grown to love, and is poised to hit the bestseller list.

So Much for That by Lionel Shriver

From the acclaimed author of the New York Times bestseller The Post-Birthday World comes a searing, ruthlessly honest new novel about a marriage both stressed and strengthened by the demands of serious illness. Shep Knacker has long saved for “The Afterlife”: an idyllic retreat to the Third World where his nest egg can last forever. Traffic jams on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway will be replaced with “talking, thinking, seeing, and being”-and enough sleep. When he sells his home repair business for a cool million dollars, his dream finally seems within reach. Yet Glynis, his wife of twenty-six years, has concocted endless excuses why it’s never the right time to go. Weary of working as a peon for the jerk who bought his company, Shep announces he’s leaving for a Tanzanian island, with or without her. Just returned from a doctor’s appointment, Glynis has some news of her own: Shep can’t go anywhere because she desperately needs his health insurance. But their policy only partially covers the staggering bills for her treatments, and Shep’s nest egg for The Afterlife soon cracks under the strain. Enriched with three medical subplots that also explore the human costs of American health care, So Much for That follows the profound transformation of a marriage, for which grave illness proves an unexpected opportunity for tenderness, renewed intimacy, and dry humor. In defiance of her dark subject matter, Shriver writes a page-turner that presses the question: How much is one life worth?

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

A sweeping, emotionally riveting first novel–an enthralling family saga of Africa and America, doctors and patients, exile and home. Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution. Yet it will be love, not politics–their passion for the same woman–that will tear them apart and force Marion, fresh out of medical school, to flee his homeland. He makes his way to America, finding refuge in his work as an intern at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital. When the past catches up to him–nearly destroying him–Marion must entrust his life to the two men he thought he trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him. An unforgettable journey into one man’s remarkable life, and an epic story about the power, intimacy, and curious beauty of the work of healing others.

The California Roll by John Vorhaus

“The California Roll” is a hilarious and highly suspicious ride into the world of grift. It’s an immensely enjoyable read.–Lisa Lutz, “New York Times”-bestselling author of “The Spellman Files.”

Dancing for Degas by Kathryn Wagner

With this fresh and vibrantly imagined portrait of the Impressionist artist Edgar Degas, readers are transported to Paris as a young Parisian ballerina tells a story of great love, great art–and the most painful choices of the heart.

Weeping Underwater Looks a Lot Like Laughter by Michael White

Seventeen-year-old George Flynn has just moved with his family to Des Moines, a place where he knows no one and is pretty much nobody. Despite this inauspicious start to his junior year, he soon finds his niche, falling in with the Schell sisters. Emily, an aspiring actress and free spirit, becomes the object of George’s mostly unrequited yearnings. But it’s Katie, with her quirks, her scathing deadpan humor, and her brave battle with multiple sclerosis, who really gets George hooked on the Schells. When an out- of-the-blue tragedy strikes, upsetting the delicate balance of all their lives, George must figure out a way to help Emily in order to save himself.

Petals From the Sky by Mingmei Yip

ollowing her successful debut, “Peach Blossom Pavilion,” Yip’s much-anticipated second novel is an evocative and sensual portrayal of a Chinese woman torn between the East and the West.

Historical Fiction

Red Inferno by Robert Conroy

In April 1945, the Allies are charging toward Berlin from the west, the Russians from the east. For Hitler, the situation is hopeless. But at this turning point in history, another war is about to explode. To win World War II, the Allies dealt with the devil. Joseph Stalin helped FDR, Churchill, and Truman crush Hitler. But what if Uncle Joeo had given in to his desire to possess Germany and all of Europe? In this stunning novel, Robert Conroy picks up the history of the war just as American troops cross the Elbe into Germany. Then Stalin slams them with the brute force of his enormous Soviet army. From American soldiers and German civilians trapped in the ruins of Potsdam to U.S. military men fighting behind enemy lines, from a scholarly Russia expert who becomes a secret player in a new war to Stalin’s cult of killers in Moscow, this saga captures the human face of international conflict. With the Soviets vastly outnumbering the Americans but undercut by chronic fuel shortages and mistrust Eisenhower employs a brilliant strategy of retreat to buy critical time for air superiority. Soon, Truman makes a series of controversial decisions, enlisting German help and planning to devastate the massive Red Army by using America’s ultimate and most secret weapon.

The Creation of Eve by Lynn Cullen

A riveting novel based on the true but little-known story of Sofonisba Anguissola, the first renowned female artist of the Renaissance, “The Creation of Eve” is an expansive, original, and entertaining work of historical fiction.

Grave Goods by Ariana Franklin

The “richly detailed, almost indecently thrilling” (New York Times) follow up to The Serpent’s Tale. When a fire at Glastonbury Abbey reveals two skeletons, rumor has it they may belong to King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. King Henry II hopes so, for it would help him put down a rebellion in Wales, where the legend of Celtic savior Arthur is strong. To make certain, he sends Adelia Aguilar, his Mistress of the Art of Death, to Glastonbury to examine the skeletons. At the same time, the investigation into the abbey fire will be overseen by the Bishop of St. Albans, father of Adelia’s daughter. Trouble is, someone at Glastonbury doesn’t want either mystery solved, and is prepared to kill to prevent it…

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

When a white servant girl violates the order of plantation society, she unleashes a tragedy that exposes the worst and best in the people she has come to call her family.Orphaned while onboard ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives on the steps of a tobacco plantation where she is to live and work with the slaves of the kitchen house. Under the care of Belle, the master’s illegitimate daughter, Lavinia becomes deeply bonded to her adopted family, though she is set apart from them by her white skin.Eventually, Lavinia is accepted into the world of the big house, where the master is absent and the mistress battles opium addiction. Lavinia finds herself perilously straddling two very different worlds. When she is forced to make a choice, loyalties are brought into question, dangerous truths are laid bare, and lives are put at risk.The Kitchen Houseis a tragic story of page-turning suspense, exploring the meaning of family, where love and loyalty prevail.

31 Bond Street by Ellen Horan

Committed to justice and the law, New York City defense attorney Henry Clinton will aid the vulnerable widow Emma Cunningham in her desperate fight to save herself from the gallows as they both seek to discover who killed Dr. Harvey Burdell.

Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes

Intense, powerful, and compelling,Matterhorn is an epic war novel in the tradition of Norman Mailer’sThe Naked and the Deadand James Jones’sThe Thin Red Line. It is the timeless story of a young Marine lieutenant, Waino Mellas, and his comrades in Bravo Company, who are dropped into the mountain jungle of Vietnam as boys and forced to fight their way into manhood. Standing in their way are not merely the North Vietnamese but also monsoon rain and mud, leeches and tigers, disease and malnutrition. Almost as daunting, it turns out, are the obstacles they discover between each other: racial tension, competing ambitions, and duplicitous superior officers. But when the company finds itself surrounded and outnumbered by a massive enemy regiment, the Marines are thrust into the raw and all-consuming terror of combat. The experience will change them forever. Written by a highly decorated Marine veteran over the course of thirty years,Matterhornis a spellbinding and unforgettable novel that brings to life an entire world—both its horrors and its thrills—and seems destined to become a classic of combat literature.

The Rose of Sebastopol by Katharine McMahon

In 1854, beautiful, adventurous Rosa Barr travels to the Crimean battlefield with Florence Nightingale’s nursing corps–then disappears without a trace. When Mariella Lingwood, Rosa’s cousin, leaves her surgeon husband’s side to follow the trail of her elusive cousin to Sebastopol, she encounters Rosa’s dashing stepbrother, a reckless cavalry officer whose complex past — and future — is inextricably bound up with her own.

The Sheen on the Silk by Anne Perry

The bestselling author of Victorian mysteries makes an ambitious leap into historical fiction, telling the story of Anastasius, a young woman who disguises herself as a eunuch in order to prove her brother innocent of a crime she knows he didn’t commit.

A River in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters

New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Peters brings back beloved Egyptologist and amateur sleuth Amelia Peabody in an exciting tale set amid the ancient temples and simmering religious tensions of Palestine on the eve of World War I. . . .August 1910. Banned from the Valley of the Kings by the Antiquities Service, Amelia Peabody and her husband, Emerson, are relaxing at home in Kent, enjoying the tranquil beauty of summer. But adventure soon beckons when they are persuaded to follow would-be archaeologist Major George Morley on an expedition to Palestine, a province of the crumbling, corrupt Ottoman Empire and the Holy Land of three religions. Searching for the vanished treasures of the Temple in Jerusalem, Morley is determined to unearth the legendary Ark of the Covenant. The skeptical Emerson wants no part of the scheme until a request from the War Office and Buckingham Palace persuades him to reconsider. The Germans are increasing their influence in Palestine and British intelligence insists that Morley is an agent of the Kaiser, sent to stir up trouble in this politically volatile land. Emerson can’t believe that the seemingly inept Morley is a German spy, but could he be mistaken? Determined to prevent a catastrophically unprofessional excavation that could destroy priceless historical finds as well as cause an armed protest by infuriated Christians, Jews, and Muslims who view the Temple Mount, also known as the Dome of the Rock, as sacred, Amelia, Emerson, and company head to Palestine. Though it is not to her beloved Egypt, the trip to Jerusalem will also reunite her with her handsome and headstrong son, Ramses, working on a dig at Samaria, north of the holy city. Before Ramses can meet his parents, however, he is distracted by an unusual party of travelers who have arrived in Samaria, including a German woman archaeologist and a mysterious man of unknown nationality and past. Unfortunately, Ramses’s insatiable curiosity and his knack for trouble lead him to a startling discovery: information he must pass on to his parents in Jerusalem-if he can get there alive. Once again the Peabody-Emerson clan must use all their skills and wiles to find the truth, prevent a bloody holy war, and save their son from the clutches of a nefarious enemy in this wonderfully engaging tale chock-full of thrills, mystery, and daring from the inimitable Elizabeth Peters.

Her Mother’s Hope by Francine Rivers

The first in an epic two-book saga, this sweeping story explores the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters as each woman is forced to confront her faulty but well-meaning desire to help her daughter find her God-given place in the world.

The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli

A unique and sweeping debut novel of an American female combat photographer in the Vietnam War, as she captures the wrenching chaos and finds herself torn between the love of two men.nbsp;Onnbsp;a stifling day in 1975, the North Vietnamese army is poised to roll intonbsp;Saigon. As the fall of the city begins, two lovers make their way through the streets to escape to a new life. Helen Adams, an American photojournalist, must take leave of a war she is addicted to and a devastated country she has come to love. Linh, the Vietnamese man who loves her, must grapple with his own conflicted loyalties of heart and homeland. As they race to leave, they play out a drama of devotion and betrayal that spins them back through twelve war-torn years, beginning in the splendor of Angkor Wat, with their mentor, larger-than-life war correspondent Sam Darrow, once Helen’s infuriating love and fiercest competitor, and Linh’s secret keeper, boss andnbsp;truest friend.Tatjana Soli paints a searing portrait of an American woman’s struggle and triumph in Vietnam, a stirring canvas contrasting the wrenching horror of war and the treacherous narcotic of obsession with the redemptive power of love. Readers will be transfixed by this stunning novel of passion, duty and ambition among the ruins of war.

Horror

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

Indiana, 1818 – Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother’s bedside. She’s been stricken with something the old-timers call “Milk Sickness.” “My baby boy…” she whispers before dying. Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother’s fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire. When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, “henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose…” Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House. While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years. Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.

Horns by Joe Hill

Joe Hill has been hailed as “a major player in 21st-century fantastic fiction” (Washington Post); “a new master in the field of suspense” (James Rollins); “one of the most confident and assured new voices in horror and dark fantasy to emerge in recent years (Publishers Weekly); a writer who “builds character invitingly and plants an otherworldly surprise around every corner” (New York Times).This gifted and brilliantly imaginative author catapulted to bestsellerdom with the chilling Heart-Shaped Box and cemented his reputation with the prizewinning volume of short fiction 20 th Century Ghosts. At last, the New York Times bestselling author returns with a relentless supernatural thriller that runs like Hell on wheels. . . .Ignatius Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke up the next morning with a thunderous hangover, a raging headache . . . and a pair of horns growing from his temples. At first Ig thought the horns were a hallucination, the product of a mind damaged by rage and grief. He had spent the last year in a lonely, private purgatory, following the death of his beloved, Merrin Williams, who was raped and murdered under inexplicable circumstances. A mental breakdown would have been the most natural thing in the world. But there was nothing natural about the horns, which were all too real. Once the righteous Ig had enjoyed the life of the blessed: born into privilege, the second son of a renowned musician and younger brother of a rising late-night TV star, he had security, wealth, and a place in his community. Ig had it all, and more-he had Merrin and a love founded on shared daydreams, mutual daring, and unlikely midsummer magic. But Merrin’s death damned all that. The only suspect in the crime, Ig was never charged or tried. And he was never cleared. In the court of public opinion in Gideon, New Hampshire, Ig is and always will be guilty because his rich and connected parents pulled strings to make the investigation go away. Nothing Ig can do, nothing he can say, matters. Everyone, it seems, including God, has abandoned him. Everyone, that is, but the devil inside. . . .Now Ig is possessed of a terrible new power to go with his terrible new look-a macabre talent he intends to use to find the monster who killed Merrin and destroyed his life. Being good and praying for the best got him nowhere. It’s time for a little revenge. . . . It’s time the devil had his due. . . .

Bite Me by Christopher Moore

Abigail Von Normal, non-perky, mysterious teen queen of the San Francisco night scene and backup mistress of Tommy, the unintentional Vampire is back to lead you through the 3rd book in the San Francisco Vampire trilogy. Learn what happens to Tommy, Jody, the Vampire Flood, Chet the Enormous Cat, The Smurfette, the Animals, and all your other favorites!

Keeper of Light and Dust by Natasha Mostert

From the acclaimed author of Season of the Witchcomes a supernatural thriller blending magic, science, and martial arts with a unique vampire hunter heroine. Mia Lockhart is descended from Keepers-women who were warriors, healers, and protectors in ancient times. But as Mia practices her craft in South London, she has no idea she is being watched. Adrian Ashton is a brilliant scientist. He is also a skilled martial artist-and a modern-day vampire. He has mastered the art of draining the chi of his opponents-the vital energy that flows through their bodies. And Mia finds herself drawn to his dark genius, though she has given her heart to another… When Ashton targets the man she loves, Mia is forced to choose between them-and the choice results in a fight to the death in which love is both the greatest weakness and the greatest prize.

Mystery

Holly Blues by Susan Albert

“In a class with…sleuths V.I. Warshawski and Stephanie Plum,” China Bayles deals with a most unwelcome guest… China Bayles is fit to spit when her husband’s troubled ex-wife, Sally, shows up at her herb shop, claiming to be broke with nowhere else to turn. China isn’t sure if it’s the goodness of her heart or the scent of Christmas wreaths, but she invites Sally to stay. Then China starts receiving menacing calls from an “ex” of Sally’s, who seems to have a connection to the murder of her parents nearly a decade ago. With her P.I. husband out of town, it’s up to China to weed out the truth behind whatever it is Sally’s running from before danger catches up to all of them….

No More Heroes by Ray Banks

It’s the hottest summer on record in Manchester, England, and down-at-heel private eye Cal Innes is struggling to keep cool. He has taken a job evicting families on behalf of local slumlord Donald Plummer, while the English National Socialists bring racial tensions to the boiling point. A firebomb attack on a Plummer property thrusts Innes into the spotlight as he rescues a child from the burning building. But when Plummer hires him to track down the arsonists, Innes finds himself dealing with more than neo-Nazis and his rapidly worsening painkiller addiction.Time’s running out and the temperature keeps rising. Manchester needs a hero and Cal Innes is the closest it has.Discover why bestselling author Laura Lippman declared that Ray Banks “raises the bar for hardboiled fiction on both sides of the Atlantic.”

Liars All by Jo Bannister

Brodie Farrell has been asked to find some strange things in the course of her business, but this time it’s personal. She’s searching desperately for a cure for her baby’s cancer. Attempting to keep the business afloat in her absence, Brodie’s devoted friend and assistant, Daniel Hood, undertakes the hunt for a necklace stolen in a murderous robbery. Typically, his sense of fair play keeps him looking for the jewellery when a wiser man would have given up. After the first attack on him. Certainly after the second. Brodie’s partner, Detective Superintendent Jack Deacon, investigates – partly as a distraction from his son’s illness, partly because he begins to suspect that the hand behind these events belongs to his old adversary, Terry Walsh. But Walsh has his own agenda, and his first priority requires something that only Deacon can give him. What he offers in return presents Deacon with an agonising dilemma.

Raining Cat Sitters and Dogs by Blaize Clement

“A knockout read. For anyone who loves mysteries, animals, or just plain great writing, this is a book to savor.”–Laurien Berenson, author of Doggie Day Care Murder on Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter. In this fifth installment of the wildly popular Dixie Hemingway mystery series, a mysterious young girl is missing. Lieutenant Guidry, the hunky homicide detective with whom Dixie has an on-again, off-again relationship, is trying to find the girl because she may be a material witness to a murder. Finally Dixie must go it alone to confront criminals who will stop at nothing to get what they want.

Apple Turnover Murder by Joanne Fluke

It’s June in Lake Eden, Minnesota, and for Hannah Swensen, that means bridal showers galore, plus a massive fundraising event in need of confections-not to mention a killer who never learned that charity begins at home… Early summer brings plenty of work for Hannah, even before Mayor Bascomb’s wife drops by The Cookie Jar to place an order …for eleven-hundred cookies! Stephanie Bascomb is organizing an elaborate three-day event to support local charities, and though it’s a worthy cause, Hannah almost flips when her business partner, Lisa, suggests setting up an apple turnover stand. Hannah’s never made a turnover-but, pushover that she is, she places her faith in Lisa’s mother-in-law’s recipe and agrees to be a magician’s assistant in the fundraiser’s talent show… Dozens of pastries and one hideous purple dress later, Hannah has to admit that stepping out of her comfort zone has been fun as well as profitable. The only snag is the show’s host, community college professor Bradford Ramsey. Hannah and her younger sister Michelle each had unfortunate romantic relationships with Ramsey, and when the cad comes sniffing around between acts, Hannah tells him off. But when the curtain doesn’t go up, she discovers Ramsey backstage-dead as a doornail with a turnover in his hand… Now, to protect her reputation and Michelle’s, Hannah must get to the bottom of the professor’s bitter end. There are plenty of scorned suspects, including an ex-wife who feels cheated in more ways than one, and a prominent local who may have been using Ramsey to avenge her own randy spouse. But who was unstable enough to snuff out Professor Love? A killer who’s flakier than puff pastry-and far more dangerous…

Sleeper by Leslie Glass

The Black Cat by Martha Grimes

The inimitable Richard Jury returns in a thrilling tale of mystery, madness, and mistaken identity. Three months have passed since Richard Jury was left bereft and guilt- ridden after his lover’s tragic auto accident, and he is now more wary than ever. He is deeply suspicious when requested on a case far out of his jurisdiction in an outlying village where a young woman has been murdered behind the local pub. The only witness is the establishment’s black cat, who gives neither crook nor clue as to the girl’s identity or her killer’s. Identifying the girl becomes tricky when she’s recognized as both the shy local librarian and a posh city escort, and Jury must use all his wits and intuition to determine the connection to subse­quent escort murders. Meanwhile, Jury’s nemesis, Harry Johnson, continues to goad Jury down a dangerous path. And Johnson, along with the imperturbable dog Mungo, just may be the key to it all. Written with Martha Grimes’s trademark insight and grace, The Black Cat signals the thrilling return of her greatest character. The superintendent is a man possessed of prodigious analytical gifts and charm, yet vulnerable in the most perplexing ways.

The Executor by Jesse Kellerman

A masterful, inventive thriller from a remarkably assured and always surprising young writer. Perpetual graduate student Joseph Geist is at his wit’s end. Recently kicked out of their shared apartment by his girlfriend, he’s left with little more than a half bust of Nietzsche’s head and the realization that he’s homeless and unemployed. He’s hit a dead end on his dissertation; his funding has been cut off. He doesn’t even have a phone. Desperate for some source of income, he searches the local newspaper and finds a curious ad: CONVERSATIONALIST SOUGHT. SERIOUS APPLICANTS ONLY. PLEASE CALL 617-XXX-XXXX BETWEEN SEVEN A.M. AND TWO P.M. NO SOLICITORS. And so Joseph meets Alma Spielman: a woman who, with her old-world ways and razor-sharp mind, is his intellectual soul mate. How is he to know that what seems to be the best decision of his life is the one that seals his fate?

Tooth and Claw by Nigel McCrery

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Lapslie and his sergeant, Emma Bradbury, first introduced in “Still Waters,” are back in an electrifyingly suspenseful new novel, chasing down one of the most fearsome, brilliantly terrifying characters to ever stalk the pages of a book.

Known to Evil by Walter Mosley

The Walter Mosley and his new hero, Leonid McGill, are back in the new New York Times-bestselling mystery series that’s already being hailed as a classic of contemporary noir. Leonid McGill-the protagonist introduced in The Long Fall, the book that returned Walter Mosley to bestseller lists nationwide -is still fighting to stick to his reformed ways while the world around him pulls him in every other direction. He has split up with his girlfriend, Aura, because his new self won’t let him leave his wife-but then Aura’s new boyfriend starts angling to get Leonid kicked out of his prime, top-of-the­skyscraper office space. Meanwhile, one of his sons seems to have found true love-but the girl has a shady past that’s all of a sudden threatening the whole McGill family-and his other son, the charming rogue Twilliam, is doing nothing but enabling the crisis. Most ominously of all, Alfonse Rinaldo, the mysterious power-behind- the-throne at City Hall, the fixer who seems to control every little thing that happens in New York City, has a problem that even he can’t fix- and he’s come to Leonid for help. It seems a young woman has disappeared, leaving murder in her wake, and it means everything to Rinaldo to track her down. But he won’t tell McGill his motives, which doesn’t quite square with the new company policy- but turning down Rinaldo is almost impossible to even contemplate. Known to Evil delivers on all the promise of the characters and story lines introduced in The Long Fall, and then some. It careens fast and deep into gritty, glittery contemporary Manhattan, making the city pulse in a whole new way, and it firmly establishes Leonid McGill as one of the mystery world’s most iconic, charismatic leading men.

The Highly Effective Detective Plays the Fool by Richard Yancey

In this third installment of Yancey’s hilarious Teddy Ruzak P.I. series, Teddy’s latest client is a woman who suspects that her husband is stepping out on her. She hires Teddy to nail the cheater. Then the client disappears. Is this a divorce case–or a murder?

Romance

Wild Ride by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

When Mary Alice Brannigan comes home to Ohio to restore the Dreamland amusement park, she doesn’t expect to fall in love with a clown. Nor does she expect to find that she’s the newest recruit in the Guardia, an elite team of demon fighters formed centuries before to guard the five Untouchables, the most powerful demons in the history of the world, now imprisoned right there in Dreamland. That would be bad enough, but there’s that clown she’s falling hard for, and there’s something about him that’s not quite right… Then there’s Ethan Wayne, a former Green Beret who’s come home to Dreamland to die. Ethan has his own problems including a bullet in his chest inching closer to his heart, a true love who shoots him on sight, and a mother who drags him into the Guardia after he’s possessed by a crazed killer mermaid demon. Between ducking his mother’s attempts to reform him and dodging the bullets of a secret government agent he’s pretty sure is his soulmate, Ethan really doesn’t have time for demons, touchable or not. But rocky romances and demented demons aren’t Mab and Ethan’s only problems, and they’re about to find out what everybody who’s ever been to an amusement park knows: the end of the ride is the wildest.

The Silent Governess byJulie Klassen

Believing herself guilty of a crime, Olivia Keene flees her home, eventually stumbling upon a grand estate where an elaborate celebration is in progress. But all is not as joyous as it seems. Lord Bradley has just learned a terrible secret, which, if exposed, will change his life forever. When he glimpse a figure on the grounds, he fears a spy or thief has overheard his devastating news. He is stunned to discover the intruder is a scrap of a woman with her throat badly injured. Fearing she will spread his secret, he gives the girl a post and confines her to his estate. As Olivia and Lord Bradley’s secrets catch up with them, will their hidden pasts ruin their hope of finding love?

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson

You are about to travel to Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and a cast of characters both hilariously original and as familiar as the members of your own family. Among them is Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), the unlikely hero of Helen Simonson’s wondrous debut. Wry, courtly, opinionated, and completely endearing, Major Pettigrew is one of the most indelible characters in contemporary fiction, and from the very first page of this remarkable novel he will steal your heart. The Major leads a quiet life valuing the proper things that Englishmen have lived by for generations: honor, duty, decorum, and a properly brewed cup of tea. But then his brother’s death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their respective spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and her as the permanent foreigner. Can their relationship survive the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of culture and tradition?

Science Fiction

Backlash by Aaron Allston

Countering growing mistrust in the wake of increasing cases of insanity among the Jedi, Han and Leia flee with three afflicted Jedi, while Luke travels to the homeworld of the Night Sister to learn why Jacen Solo turned to the dark side.

Changes by Jim Butcher

The new novel in the #1 New York Timesbestselling Dresden Files series. Long ago, Susan Rodriguez was Harry Dresden’s lover-until she was attacked by his enemies, leaving her torn between her own humanity and the bloodlust of the vampiric Red Court. Susan then disappeared to South America, where she could fight both her savage gift and those who cursed her with it. Now Arianna Ortega, Duchess of the Red Court, has discovered a secret Susan has long kept, and she plans to use it-against Harry. To prevail this time, he may have no choice but to embrace the raging fury of his own untapped dark power. Because Harry’s not fighting to save the world… He’s fighting to save his child.

Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb

Guided by the great blue dragon Tintaglia, a tangle of serpents fights its way up the Rain Wild River to the cocooning grounds. But the creatures which emerge from the cocoons are a travesty of the powerful, shining dragons of old; some cannot fly, others are stunted or deformed. To save the dragons, a band of dragon keepers, hunters and chroniclers must attend them if they are to find their true home–the legendary Elderling city of Kelsingra.

Suspense/Thriller

Never Look Away by Linwood Barclay

In this tense, mesmerizing thriller by Linwood Barclay, critically acclaimed author of Fear the Worst and Too Close to Home, a man’s life unravels around him when the unthinkable strikes. A warm summer Saturday. An amusement park. David Harwood is glad to be spending some quality time with his wife, Jan, and their four-year-old son. But what begins as a pleasant family outing turns into a nightmare after an inexplicable disappearance. A frantic search only leads to an even more shocking and harrowing turn of events. Until this terrifying moment, David Harwood is just a small-town reporter in need of a break. His paper, the Promise Falls Standard, is struggling to survive. Then he gets a lead that just might be the answer to his prayers: a potential scandal involving a controversial development project for the outskirts of this picturesque upstate New York town. It’s a hot-button issue that will surely sell papers and help reverse the Standard’s fortunes, but strangely, David’s editors keep shooting it down. Why? That’s a question no longer at the top of David’s list. Now the only thing he cares about is restoring his family. Desperate for any clue, David dives into his own investigation – and into a web of lies and deceit. For with every new piece of evidence he uncovers, David finds more questions – and moves ever closer to a shattering truth.

The Bone Thief by Jefferson Bass

New York Times bestselling author Jefferson Bass delivers an authentic and knuckle-biting thriller in which forensic anthropologist Dr. Bill Brockton must confront a crime of unimaginable proportions on his own doorstep. Find out why Booklist says, “Fans of forensic fiction will want to add this author to their list of favorites.”The Bone ThiefDr. Bill Brockton has been called in on a seemingly routine case, to exhume a body and obtain a bone sample for a DNA paternity test. But when the coffin is opened, Brockton and his colleagues, including his graduate assistant Miranda Lovelady, are stunned to see that the corpse has been horribly violated.Brockton’s initial shock gives way to astonishment as he uncovers a flourishing and lucrative black market in body parts. At the center of this ghoulish empire is a daring and prosperous grave robber. Soon Brockton finds himself drawn into the dangerous enterprise when the FBI recruits him to bring down the postmortem chop shop-using corpses from the Body Farm as bait in an undercover sting operation.As Brockton struggles to play the unscrupulous role the FBI asks of him, his friend and colleague medical examiner Eddie Garcia faces a devastating injury that could end his career. Exposed to a near-lethal dose of radioactivity, Dr. Garcia has lost most of his right hand and his entire left hand. Out of options, he embarks on a desperate quest: both of his ravaged hands will be severed at the wrist and replaced with those from a cadaver. But unless suitable ones are found soon, the opportunity will be lost.As Brockton delves deep into the clandestine trade, he is faced with an agonizing choice: Is he willing to risk an FBI investigation-and his own principles-to help his friend? Will he be able to live with himself if he crosses that line? Will he be able to live with himself if he doesn’t? And as the criminal case and the medical crisis converge, a pair of simpler questions arise: Will Dr. Garcia survive-and will Brockton?

Blacklands by Belinda Bauer

EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO, Billy Peters disappeared. Everyone in town believes Billy was murdered — after all, serial killer Arnold Avery later admitted killing six other children and burying them on the same desolate moor that surrounds their small English village. Only Billy’s mother is convinced he is alive. She still stands lonely guard at the front window of her home, waiting for her son to return, while her remaining family fragments around her. But her twelve-year-old grandson Steven is determined to heal the cracks that gape between his nan, his mother, his brother, and himself. Steven desperately wants to bring his family closure, and if that means personally finding his uncle’s corpse, he’ll do it. Spending his spare time digging holes all over the moor in the hope of turning up a body is a long shot, but at least it gives his life purpose. Then at school, when the lesson turns to letter writing, Steven has a flash of inspiration…Careful to hide his identity, he secretly pens a letter to Avery in jail asking for help in finding the body of “W.P.” — William “Billy” Peters. So begins a dangerous cat-and-mouse game. Just as Steven tries to use Avery to pinpoint the gravesite, so Avery misdirects and teases his mysterious correspondent in order to relive his heinous crimes. And when Avery finally realizes that the letters he’s receiving are from a twelve-year-old boy, suddenly his life has purpose too. Although his is far more dangerous…Blacklands is a taut and chillingly brilliant debut that signals the arrival of a bright new voice in psychological suspense.

Capitol Betrayal by William Bernhardt

From the bestselling author of “Capitol Offense” comes his most thrilling and explosive novel to date. Ben Kincaid is back in Washington with a temporary appointment. While he’s in a meeting in the Oval Office, a national emergency erupts.

Nowhere to Run by C.J. Box

The extraordinary new Joe Pickett novel from the Edgar Award-winning author. “Box’s series is the gold standard,” wrote Library Journalabout Below Zero, but never has he written a novel as harrowing as Nowhere to Run. Joe Pickett’s in his last week as the temporary game warden in the town of Baggs, Wyoming, but there have been strange things going on in the mountains, and his conscience won’t let him leave without checking them out: reports of camps looted, tents slashed, elk butchered. And then there’s the runner who simply vanished one day. Joe doesn’t mind admitting that the farther he rides, the more he wishes he could just turn around and go home. And he is right to be concerned. Because what awaits him is like nothing he’s ever dealt with, like something out of an old story, except this is all too real and too deadly. When he’d first saddled up, he’d thought of this as his last patrol. What he hadn’t known was just how accurate that thought might turn out to be.

The Bricklayer by Noah Boyd

Someone gives you a dangerous puzzle to solve, one that may kill you or someone else, and you’re about to fail. . . . And there is no other option. No one who can help. No one but the Bricklayer. The Bricklayer is the pulse-pounding novel introducing Steve Vail, one of the most charismatic new heroes to come along in thriller fiction in many years. He’s an ex-FBI agent who’s been fired for insubordination but is lured back to the Bureau to work a case that has become more unsolvable-and more deadly-by the hour. A woman steps out of the shower in her Los Angeles home and is startled by an intruder sitting calmly in her bedroom holding a gun. But she is frozen with fear by what he has to say about the FBI-and what he says he must do. . . . A young agent slips into the night water off a rocky beach. He’s been instructed to swim to a nearby island to deposit a million dollars demanded by a blackmailer. But his mission is riddled with hazardous tests, as if someone wanted to destroy him rather than collect the money. . . .Vail has resigned himself to his dismissal and is content with his life as a bricklayer. But the FBI, especially Deputy Assistant Director Kate Bannon, needs help with a shadowy group that has initiated a brilliant extortion plot. The group will keep killing their targets until the agency pays them off, the amount and number of bodies escalating each time the FBI fails. One thing is clear: someone who knows a little too much about the inner workings of the Bureau is very clever-and very angry-and will kill and kill again if it means he can disgrace the FBI. Steve Vail’s options-and his time to find answers-are swiftly running out. Noah Boyd’s The Bricklayer is written with the bracing authenticity only someone who has been a crack FBI investigator can provide. And in this masterful debut Boyd has created a mind-bending maze of clues and traps inside a nonstop thrill ride that is sure to leave readers exhilarated and enthralled.

212 by Alafair Burke

In New York City, nights are dangerous. Days are numbered. When New York University sophomore Megan Gunther finds personal threats posted to a Web site specializing in campus gossip, she’s taken aback by their menacing tone. Someone knows her daily routine down to the minute and is watching her–but thanks to the anonymity provided by the Internet, the police tell her there’s nothing they can do. Her friends are sure it’s someone’s idea of a joke, but when Megan is murdered in a vicious attack, NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher is convinced that the online threats are more than just empty words. With smooth, straight-talking partner J. J. Rogan at her side, Ellie tries to identify Megan’s enemies, but she begins to wonder if the coed’s murder was more than just the culmination of a cyber obsession. Phone records reveal a link between Megan and a murdered real estate agent who was living a dangerous double life. The detectives also learn that the dead real estate agent shared a secret connection to a celebrity mogul whose bodyguard was mysteriously killed a few months earlier. And when Megan’s roommate suddenly disappears, they know they have to find her before another young woman dies. Exposing the darkness that lurks beneath the glamorous surface of New York City, 212 delivers yet another “knuckle-biting journey that’ll keep you turning pages until the very end” (Faye Kellerman).

Caught by Harlan Coben

From the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense comes a fast-paced, emotion-packed novel about guilt, grief, and our capacity to forgive. 17-year-old Haley McWaid is a good girl, the pride of her suburban New Jersey family, captain of the lacrosse team, headed off to college next year with all the hopes and dreams her doting parents can pin on her. Which is why, when her mother wakes one morning to find that Haley never came home the night before, and three months quickly pass without word from the girl, the community assumes the worst. Wendy Tynes is a reporter on a mission, to identify and bring down sexual predators via elaborate-and nationally televised-sting operations. Working with local police on her news program Caught in the Act, Wendy and her team have publicly shamed dozens of men by the time she encounters her latest target. Dan Mercer is a social worker known as a friend to troubled teens, but his story soon becomes more complicated than Wendy could have imagined. In a novel that challenges as much as it thrills, filled with the astonishing tension and unseen suburban machinations that have become Coben’s trademark, Caught tells the story of a missing girl, the community stunned by her loss, the predator who may have taken her, and the reporter who suddenly realizes she can’t trust her own instincts about this story-or the motives of the people around her.

Aracdia Falls by Carol Goodman

There once was a girl who liked to pretend she was lost. . . . Meg Rosenthal is driving toward the next chapter in her life. Winding along a wooded roadway, her car moves through a dense forest setting not unlike one in the bedtime stories Meg used to read to her daughter, Sally. But the girl riding beside Meg is a teenager now, and has exchanged the land of make-believe for an iPod and some personal space. Too much space, it seems, as the chasm between them has grown since the sudden, unexpected death of Meg’s husband. Dire financial straits and a desire for a fresh start take Meg and Sally from a comfortable life on Long Island to a tucked-away hamlet in upstate New York: Arcadia Falls, where Meg has accepted a teaching position at a boarding school. The creaky, neglected cottage Meg and Sally are to call home feels like an ill portent of things to come, but Meg is determined to make the best of it-and to make a good impression on the school’s dean, the diminutive, elegant Ivy St. Clare. St. Claire, however, is distracted by a shocking crisis: During Arcadia’s First Night bonfire, one of Meg’s folklore students, Isabel Cheney, plunges to her death in a campus gorge. Sheriff Callum Reade finds Isabel’s death suspicious, but then, he is a man with secrets and a dark past himself. Meg is unnerved by Reade’s interest in the girl’s death, and as long-buried secrets emerge, she must face down her own demons and the danger threatening to envelop Sally. As the past clings tight to the present, the shadows, as if in a terrifying fairy tale, grow longer and deadlier. In Arcadia Falls, award-winning author Carol Goodman deftly weaves a mesmerizing narrative of passion: for revenge, for art, for love.

The Killing Edge by Heather Graham

Florida psychologist Chloe Marin and Luke Cane, a British ex-cop-turned-P.I. investigating the disappearance of a young swimsuit model on behalf of her father, have trouble trusting each other, even though they are attracted to one another and have the same hunch that a killer is using a modeling agency to stalk his prey. When Chloe arrives late for an appointment at the modeling agency, she discovers a gruesome mass murder eerily similar to one she witnessed a decade ago–and she’s afraid she’s the target.

False Mermaid by Erin Hart

A chilling new suspense novel from Erin Hart that brilliantly combines forensics, archaeology, and history with Irish myth and mystery.

Forget Me Not by Vicki Hinze

The always-entertaining Hinze breaks new ground with this intriguing tale, filled with nail-biting suspense, emotional turmoil, and heartfelt redemption. This novel celebrates the sturdiness of the human spirit and the healing power of faith.–Susan Wiggs, author of “Just Breathe.”

Without Mercy by Lisa Jackson

In order to keep an eye on her half-sister, Shaylee, Julia Farentino takes a job at an elite boarding school in Oregon known for turning wayward kids around. Julia is suspicious of the school, because she knows of one student who disappeared, and has never been found. Soon she uncovers disturbing information about previous students.

Deception by Jonathan Kellerman

Masterly storytelling and expert insight into the darkest of human compulsions make #1New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman’s Alex Delaware novels as compelling as they are addictive. And just when you think he has taken his spellbinding tales of mystery and psychological suspense to the limit, with Deception he takes a bold leap into terrifying and uncharted new territory. Her name is Elise Freeman, and her chilling cry for help-to whoever may be listening-comes too late to save her. On a DVD found near her lifeless body, the emotionally and physically battered woman chronicles a year-and-a-half-long ordeal of monstrous abuse at the hands of three sadistic tormentors. But even more shocking than the lurid details is the revelation that the offenders, like their victim, are teachers at one of L.A.’s most prestigious prep schools. With Elise now dead by uncertain means, homicide detective Milo Sturgis is assigned to probe the hallowed halls of Windsor Prep Academy. And if ever he could use Dr. Alex Delaware’s psychological prowess, it’s now. From the get-go, this case promises to be an uphill climb for truth and a down and dirty fight for justice. Allegations of rape, assault, and possibly murder at this esteemed institution renowned for molding Ivy Leaguers make for a social and political time bomb-especially given that one of the students has connections high up in City Hall. As the scandal-conscious elite of L.A. close ranks around Windsor Prep, Alex and Milo must penetrate the citadel of wealth and scholarship to expose the hidden anguish, dirty secrets, and deadly sins festering among society’s manor-born. But power and position are not easily surrendered, for that’s when the best and the brightest turn brutal and ugly. Searching for predators among the privileged, Alex and Milo may well be walking into a highly polished death trap. From the Hardcover edition.

The acclaimed author of the Kurt Wallander mysteries, writing at the height of his powers, now gives us an electrifying stand-alone global thriller. January 2006. In the Swedish hamlet of Hesjövallen, nineteen people have been massacred. The only clue is a red ribbon found at the scene. Judge Birgitta Roslin has particular reason to be shocked: Her grandparents, the Andréns, are among the victims, and Birgitta soon learns that an Andrén family in Nevada has also been murdered. She then discovers the nineteenth-century diary of an Andrén ancestor–a gang master on the American transcontinental railway–that describes brutal treatment of Chinese slave workers. The police insist that only a lunatic could have committed the Hesjövallen murders, but Birgitta is determined to uncover what she now suspects is a more complicated truth. The investigation leads to the highest echelons of power in present-day Beijing, and to Zimbabwe and Mozambique. But the narrative also takes us back 150 years into the depths of the slave trade between China and the United States–a history that will ensnare Birgitta as she draws ever closer to solving the Hesjövallen murders.

The Devil’s Star by Jo Nesbo

Oslo is sweltering in the summer heat when a young woman is murdered in her flat. One finger has been cut off and a tiny red diamond in the shape of a pentagram-a five-pointed star-is found under her eyelid. Detective Harry Hole is assigned the case with Tom Waaler, a colleague he neither likes nor trusts. He believes Tom is behind a gang of arms smugglers-and the murder of his partner. But Harry, an off-the-rails alcoholic, is barely holding on to his job and has little choice but to play nice. Five days later, another woman is reported missing. When her severed finger is found adorned with a star-shaped red diamond ring, Harry fears a serial killer is on the loose. Determined to find the killer and expose the crooked Tom Waaler, Harry discovers the two investigations melding in unexpected ways. But pursuing the truth comes at a price, and soon Harry finds himself on the run and forced to make difficult decisions about a future he may not live to see. One of the brightest stars of Scandinavian crime writing, Jo Nesbø has been compared to Ian Rankin, Michael Connelly, and Henning Mankell. His novels are bestsellers throughout Europe, acclaimed by critics and revered by aficionados of thrillers and mysteries. Brilliantly plotted and paced, The Devil’s Star shows Nesbø at his absolute best, combining powerful emotional resonance with truly stunning suspense.

Heresy by S.J. Parris

Masterfully blending true events with fiction, this blockbuster historical thriller delivers a page-turning murder mystery set on the sixteenth-century Oxford University campus. Giordano Bruno was a monk, poet, scientist, and magician on the run from the Roman Inquisition on charges of heresy for his belief that the Earth orbits the sun and that the universe is infinite. This alone could have got him burned at the stake, but he was also a student of occult philosophies and magic. In S. J. Parris’s gripping novel, Bruno’s pursuit of this rare knowledge brings him to London, where he is unexpectedly recruited by Queen Elizabeth I and is sent undercover to Oxford University on the pretext of a royal visitation. Officially Bruno is to take part in a debate on the Copernican theory of the universe; unofficially, he is to find out whatever he can about a Catholic plot to overthrow the queen. His mission is dramatically thrown off course by a series of grisly murders and a spirited and beautiful young woman. As Bruno begins to discover a pattern in these killings, he realizes that no one at Oxford is who he seems to be. Bruno must attempt to outwit a killer who appears obsessed with the boundary between truth and heresy. Like The Dante Club and The Alienist, this clever, sophisticated, exceptionally enjoyable novel is written with the unstoppable narrative propulsion and stylistic flair of the very best historical thrillers.

Shattered by Karen Robards

Secret, betrayal, and a mysterious family history plague the heroine in the latest novel from New York Times-bestselling author Karen Robards. The past is never over. It just gets dusty. Lisa Shewmaker was a rising star in a prestigious law firm in Lexington, Kentucky; that is, until the firm went bankrupt and she lost her job. With an ailing mother to care for, Lisa takes the first position she can find: research assistant to District Attorney Scott Buchanan. Scott is as disagreeable as he is sexy, and Lisa suspects the only reason she got the job is because of her privileged upbringing as the daughter of a wealthy federal judge. While reviewing cold cases in the Fayette County courthouse, a particularly thick manila envelope draws Lisa’s attention. The details of the case are engrossing: An entire family-father, mother, and two children-disappeared more than twenty-eight years ago. Except that’s not all: The mother in the photo could have been Lisa’s twin, and the toddler in the picture bears an uncanny resemblance to Lisa herself. Before Lisa can learn more about her past, a series of catastrophes strike close to home. Lisa confides in Scott, and their relationship develops into something completely different. Together Lisa and Scott unravel a terrifying web of criminal connections that could destroy the very fabric of Lisa’s life-if she lives long enough, that is.

Think Twice by Lisa Scottoline

From the blockbuster New York Times bestselling author of Look Again comes a novel that makes you question the nature of evil: is it born in us or is it bred? Bennie Rosato looks exactly like her identical twin, Alice Connolly, but the darkness in Alice’s soul makes them two very different women. Or at least that’s what Bennie believes, until she finds herself buried alive at the hands of her twin. Meanwhile, Alice takes over Bennie’s life, impersonating her at work and even seducing her boyfriend in order to escape the deadly mess she has made of her own life. But Alice underestimates Bennie and the evil she has unleashed in her twin’s psyche, as well as Bennie’s determination to stay alive long enough to exact revenge. Bennie must face the twisted truth that she is more like her sister Alice than she could have ever imagined, and by the novel’s shocking conclusion, Bennie finds herself engaged in a war she cannot win–with herself.

Day Out of Days by Sam Shepard

From one of our most admired writers: a collection of stories set mainly in the fertile imaginative landscape of the American West, written with the terse lyricism, cinematic detail, and wry humor that have become Sam Shepard’s trademarks. A man traveling down Highway 90 West gets trapped alone overnight inside a Cracker Barrel restaurant, where he is tormented by an endless loop of Shania Twain songs on the overhead sound system. A wandering actor returns to his hometown against his better instincts and runs into an old friend, who recounts their teenage days of stealing cars, scoring Benzedrine, and sleeping with whores in Tijuana. A Minnesota family travels south for a winter vacation but, caught up in the ordinary tyrannies of family life, remains oblivious to the beauty of the Yucatán Peninsula. A solitary horse rancher muses on Sitting Bull and Beckett amid the jumble of stuff in his big country kitchen – from rusted spurs and Lakota dream-catchers to yellowing pictures of hawks and galloping horses to – snapshots of different sons in different shirts doing different things like fishing, riding mules and tractors; leaning up against their different mothers at radical angles. Made up of short narratives, lyrics, and dialogues, Day out of Days sets conversation against tale, song against memory, in a cubistic counterpoint that finally links each piece together. The result is a stunning work of vision and clarity imbued with the vivid reverberations of myth – Shepard at his flinty-eyed, unwavering best.

Once a Spy by Keith Thomson

Drummond Clark was once a spy of legendary proportions. Now Alzheimer’s disease has taken its toll and he’s just a confused old man who’s wandered away from home, waiting for his son to fetch him. When Charlie Clark takes a break from his latest losing streak at the track to bring Drummond back to his Brooklyn home, they find it blown sky high-and then bullets start flying in every direction. At first, Charlie thinks his Russian “creditors” are employing aggressive collection tactics. But once Drummond effortlessly hot-wires a car as their escape vehicle, Charlie begins to suspect there’s much more to his father than meets the eye. He soon discovers that Drummond’s unremarkable career as an appliance salesman was actually a clever cover for an elaborate plan to sell would-be terrorists faulty nuclear detonators. Drummond’s intricate knowledge of the “device” is extremely dangerous information to have rattling around in an Alzheimer’s-addled brain. The CIA wants to “contain” him–and so do some other shady characters who send Charlie and Drummond on a wild chase that gives “father and son quality time” a whole new meaning. With Once a Spy, Keith Thomson makes his debut on the thriller stage with energy, wit, and style to spare. From the Hardcover edition.

Watchlist

Watchlist is a unique collaboration by twenty-one of the world’s greatest thriller writers including Lee Child, Joseph Finder, David Hewson, S.J. Rozan, Lisa Scottoline, and Jeffery Deaver, who conceived the characters and set the plot in motion; In turn, the other authors each wrote a chapter and Deaver then completed what he started, bringing each novel to its startling conclusion. The Chopin Manuscript: Former war crimes investigator Harold Middleton possesses a previously unknown score by Frédéric Chopin. But he is unaware that, locked within its handwritten notes, lies a secret that now threatens the lives of thousands of Americans. The Copper Bracelet: Harold Middleton returns in this explosive sequel to The Chopin Manuscript as he’s drawn into an international terror plot that threatens to send India and Pakistan into full-scale nuclear war.